CANCUN, Mexico - The Green Bay women's basketball team will look to extend its two-game winning streak in sunny Cancun at the Cancun Challenge over the holiday weekend. GB is coming off an upset victory over previously ranked Creighton, who was No. 22 in the AP poll but has since fallen out. The Phoenix will face another AP Top-25 team this weekend in No. 23 Washington State (Pac-12). Prior to the battle against the Cougars, GB will face UMass on Turkey Day and Maryland on Black Friday.

CANCUN CHALLENGE SLATE (all games start at 12:30 CST)

Thursday, Nov. 23
Green Bay (2-1) vs. UMass (1-4)
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Friday, Nov. 24
Green Bay vs. Maryland
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Saturday, Nov. 25
Green Bay vs. Washington State
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ABOUT THE CANCUN CHALLENGE/TRIPLE CROWN SPORTS
The 2024 Cancun Challenge will see 18 men's and women's programs make the trip to Cancun over Thanksgiving week to the all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. The 18th running of the women's event will be held Nov. 23-25. For 2023, the four-team Mayan Division will feature Green Bay, Maryland, UMass, and Washington State. These squads will play a three-game round-robin at the event. In the Riviera Division, six teams will be making the trip and playing two games while in Mexico – Creighton, Georgia Tech, James Madison, Michigan State, Montana State, and New Mexico. All women's Cancun Challenge games will be streamed live on FloSports.

Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, Triple Crown Sports has been producing youth, high school, and college events for 40 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men's and women's DI Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. Triple Crown is also powering "WNIT" concept events in D-I softball (NISC) and volleyball (NIVC), with those two events debuting in 2017. Triple Crown's PV College Challenge features more than 10 of the top DI college softball teams in the country each year in Puerto Vallarta, MX. Anchored by the 1,100-team Colorado 4th of July event, TC fastpitch tournaments draw the nation's finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend TCS events for recruiting purposes. TCS produces one of the largest youth baseball events in the world with the Omaha SlumpBuster during the College World Series. The Triple Crown Volleyball NIT has become the top-recruited club volleyball event in the country each February when 550 teams compete in Kansas City, MO.

GREEN BAY ON THANKSGIVING
The Phoenix didn't play their first Turkey Day game until the 2010-11 season under then-Head Coach Matt Bollant, defeating Hartford 78-44. Overall, in seven Thanksgiving Day contests, Green Bay is 4-3. Current Head Coach Kevin Borseth is 2-3 on the holiday, recording wins over Bowling Green (2019) and Columbia (2017). Last season, the Phoenix dropped its Thanksgiving Day contest to Florida, 52-61.

ABOUT THE MINUTEMEN
First-year Head Coach Mike Laflar secured his first collegiate victory on November 6 over Saint Peter's. Laflar spent several seasons as the Associate Head Coach before being elevated to Head Coach during the offseason. Stefanie Kulesza is UMass's most dangerous weapon, pacing the Minutemen in points (14.0 PPG) and rebounds (9.0 RPG). She's filled the stat sheet this season, totaling six steals, three blocks, and five assists. Kristin Williams (11.0 PPG) is the only other Minutemen to average double figures.

ABOUT THE TERRAPINS
Shayenne Sellers has guided the Terps to a 2-2 start. She's proven to be one of the Big Ten's best players, posting 20.3 PPG through the first four contests of 2023-24. Sellers flies around the hardwood, crashing the boards for 6.0 RPG, all while compiling 14 assists, 10 steals, and two blocks. She has been otherworldly from the floor, shooting 45.5 percent overall, 42.9 percent from deep, and 86.2 percent from the charity stripe. Head Coach Brenda Frese is in her 23rd season at Maryland, racking up 565 wins. Frese has tallied 622 career wins in 26 seasons.

ABOUT THE COUGARS
Washington State is off to a perfect 5-0 start to the 2023-24 campaign, moving up a spot in the AP Top-25 poll (24th to 23rd). The Cougars will bring a mostly experienced and balanced attack, led by senior Charlisse Leger-Walker and fifth-year player Bella Murekatete. The duo averages 14.9 points per game apiece, with the latter pacing the squad in rebounds (8.2 RPG) alongside graduate Beyonce Bea. Head Coach Kamie Ethridge is in her 10th season as a collegiate HC and sixth with the Cougars. The Hall of Famer has helped raise WSU to a nationally-ranked team, posting a winning record the last two seasons, including a 23-win campaign last season.

OFFSEASON TRANSACTIONS
April 11: Green Bay adds Natalie Andersen from the transfer portal.
July 5: 11 players are tabbed to the Horizon League 2023 Spring Academic Honor Roll.
July 5: Jada Patterson is named Director of Operations & Content Creator.
July 20: Patrick Bowlin is promoted to Assistant Coach.
August 1: The WBCA ranks GB sixth in the nation in GPA for the 2022-23 season.
August 9: The 2023-24 non-conference schedule is released.
August 22: Horizon League unveils conference schedule.
August 29: Megan Vogel is promoted to Associate Head Coach and Sarah Bronk is promoted to Assistant Head Coach.
September 27: Megan Pingel is named Assistant Coach.
October 18: Horizon League selects Green Bay to finish first in the Under Armour Preseason Poll.

WELCOME TO TITLETOWN
Green Bay welcomes four newcomers to the 2023-24 squad. The Phoenix bring a trio of true freshmen (Maren Westin, Sophie Lahti, and Meghan Schultz) and one transfer (Natalie Andersen, IUPUI). Westin and Andersen are guards, while Lahti and Schultz bring height to the forward position. Schultz stands at six feet, four inches, surpassing Kendall Renard as the tallest player on the team. The Phoenix once again boast a roster of mostly homegrown talent. Of the 13 players on the roster, 10 are from the dairyland. Only Westin (Becker, Minn.), Lahti (Pine City, Minn.), and Jenna Guyer (Circle Pines, Minn.) are not from Wisconsin.

RACE TO 800
Head Coach Kevin Borseth is quickly closing in on 800 career wins, needing four more to reach the milestone. Borseth began his career in 1987 with Division II institution Michigan Tech, winning a whopping 225 contests in 11 seasons. The 2023 Horizon League Coach of the Year also needs just 16 more wins to get his 500th win as the head coach of the Phoenix.

MEGHAN'S BACK, TELL A FRIEND
Assistant Coach Meghan Pingel returns to Green Bay's bench in the coaching ranks after graduating in the spring of 2022, completing a six-year collegiate career as a guard. Pingel provided consistency all over the hardwood, shooting 35.7 percent while racking up 340 assists and 277 rebounds. During her final season in Titletown as a student-athlete, Pingel recorded a career-high 22 points versus North Dakota State. Pingel was on the 2017-18 team that won the Horizon League regular season and Tournament Championship, making it to the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. Green Bay currently has eight players who were teammates with Pingel during the 2021-22 season, which was her final season as a player.

GO OFF GENKE
Junior guard Callie Genke had a day to remember during the team's 88-62 win over Illinois State on November 11. Genke was scorching hot from the floor, shooting 9-of-14 overall and 5-of-9 from beyond the arc, totaling a career-high 26 points while grabbing a career-high six rebounds. The Wrightstown, Wisconsin native's 26 points were the most in a single-game for the Phoenix since Hailey Oskey against Cleveland State on 2/26/22.

SHARING IS CARING
The Phoenix shared the ball well during the upset victory over No. 22-ranked Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska last Thursday. Three players scored in double figures, and six Phoenix had two or more assists. Green Bay had seven players grab multiple rebounds, including five players with three or more. GB tallied their first victory over an AP Top 25 team since November 30, 2018. The win over Creighton also marked five years since GB's upset win over Missou, who was ranked 16th.

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